Liu Yuhan and the other ten people found a shady spot away from the crowd and gathered together. Liu took out a water bag and steamed buns from her backpack. The buns were steamed last night. They were made by mixing black and white flour.
Liu Shiliu gave 30 kilograms of white flour, but since there were many people in the family, they had to eat it sparingly.
The steamed buns were hard and tasteless. Liu Yuhan chewed them in small bites. Looking at little Xiaowu and seeing how his family enjoyed their food, he felt bad. After Mom told her grandparents, they could hide away and eat something good.
After everyone had rested, the village chief organized a group of more than ten people to carry some yams down the mountain and pile them up at his uncle Liu Daling's house. Another group continued to search and dig, and they gathered at 3 p.m. to return home.
Liu continued to gather herbs with the other children, while Liu Yuhan and Liu Yao went to fetch water from the same spot they had been yesterday.
She found an excuse to pick up more than ten eggs and a handful of leeks. When Liu Yao received the milk candy her sister fed her, she was so happy that her eyes were narrowed into slits. After eating, she carefully rinsed her mouth with water. This was a secret between her and her sister, and no one else could tell it.
Soon it was the afternoon, and the villagers were ready to go back home, packing all the yams into their backpacks. Two of the backpacks were filled with yams that had been accidentally dug up and then washed and peeled.
Everyone filled their water bags with water and walked down the mountain excitedly.
The sooner we get there, the sooner we can divide the food, so we can go home and cook for our family tonight.
There was a lively scene in Liu Daling's yard.
Almost all the old people, women and children in the village came over, looking eagerly at the yams piled in the yard, waiting to be divided.
They had all heard from the village chief or family members who went to dig yam that it was a filling food, and they were so jealous of the huge pile of yams.
The village chief stepped on a high rock and told everyone to be quiet. He explained how to distribute the yams, how to store them, and how to cook them. He said Liu Daling's family had kindly led them to find the yams, so they should share more. He urged everyone to be grateful. "You should eat the food first, and no one else in the village should tell anyone else. Tomorrow we'll go find Er'er..."
There were thirty households, and except for Liu Laizi's family and Old Xu's family who didn't come, that made twenty-eight households. According to the shapes and sizes of the similar ones, they were arranged in piles and divided into twenty-nine portions, each portion weighing about forty kilograms.
Liu Daling's family took two shares, and the peeled yams in one of the baskets were also given to his family. No one had any objections. Liu Daling's family had more people and more labor, so in fact, everyone was getting the better deal.
Everyone happily packed up the yams, ready to cook and eat tonight. There was also a backpack with the yams peeled, and no one asked any questions.
Seeing that everyone had gone home, the village chief asked Yan to bring a basket and put some peeled yams in it, enough for tonight's meal, and then asked her to take the children back and cook the yams first.
There was still a lot of peeled skin left in the backpack, so after telling Liu Daling and Liu Xiaoman about it, he prepared to share it with the two families who hadn't come. This was also what his father and uncle had agreed on, and Liu Yuhan saw it all.
The two families in the village who did not come were Liu Laizi's family, which only had him and his mentally retarded old mother. Liu Laizi was not called Liu Laizi before, but Liu Neng. He was tall and used to be a diligent boy.
When Liu Neng was 12 years old, his father went hunting in the mountains and was gored by a wild boar. His belly was pierced and blood was all over the ground. He died in a horrible way. The villagers carried him back. Liu Neng's mother, Xu, was six months pregnant at the time. Seeing her husband's tragic condition, she was so upset that she miscarried. The six-month-old baby was already born.
Xu lost two relatives in one day and went crazy, quietly.
She didn't make any noise or fuss, didn't cry or laugh, but she became the one who needed care.
The 12-year-old Liu Neng was forced to grow up. While doing odd jobs in the town, he met some second-rate guys in the town who instigated him to steal things in exchange for money.
Anyone who reaches out will be caught.
Once, twice, three times... He was eventually caught and beaten half to death. Because he was still young, he was thrown into jail for a month.
After he was released, his personality changed drastically. For ten years, he was always on the run, stealing and cheating. Even when he grew up, no one wanted to marry him. I don't know when everyone started calling him Liu Laizi.
His only best quality is probably that he is very considerate and caring towards his crazy mother, and he does not allow anyone to scold her. Otherwise, he will be the one who goes crazy.
Old Xu's family consists of Old Xu and his son. He also had a miserable life. He married a widow at the age of 30 and had a son at the age of 32. When the son was only two years old, the widow could not bear the hard life and forced Old Xu to sign a divorce agreement and ran away with the people in the town.
Old Xu had a hard time raising his son. His 18-year-old son, Xu Fugui, had not yet married. One day while working as a laborer, he fell from the roof of a house. A sharp piece of wood on the ground pierced his calf, and blood oozed out. The master of the house cursed him for his bad luck and sent him away after throwing him a hundred coins.
A fellow villager took him to the clinic, had the bleeding stopped, and bandaged him before taking him home. He drank some herbal remedies and lay in bed for ten days, but nothing had healed. I'm afraid it's tetanus.
The village chief lamented that his life was too difficult! These two families were either crazy or sick, and giving them food had to be done in secret.
Continue read on readnovelmtl.com